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I read a review of this album which said it was very good, so I requested a copy for Xmas. Life was complex and it took me nearly 2 weeks before I had a listen. I wasn't terribly happy as I hit play but I was smiling half way through the first track When the Moment Comes. Half way through the next track Pistol I was practically dancing as I walked down the street with headphones on. Up until this point the music was great but the vocals occupied a relatively narrow, gravelly range - no complaints, but my expectations were set. When I heard Dyson hit an unexpectedly clear and high note 39 seconds into Tell Me I swore out loud!

I won't bore you with the rest. This album rocks. The playing is fantastic, with a variety of guitar sounds, swirling organ, piano, trumpet and stellar backing vocals. Dyson's singing and song-writing is inspired. The production is spacious when it need to be and huge at other times. Everything fits together fantastically.

Comparisons have been made with Bruce Springsteen, Lucinda Williams, Melissa Etheridge and others. While that's good company to be in, those comparisons simply aren't a fair description because they probably create too many preconceptions. Mia Dyson doesn't sound like she wants to be anyone else. She's written some fantastic songs and they have been arranged, performed and recorded beautifully.

This is one of the best albums I have heard in a long time... a tour de force of Americana-drenched rock. I listen to this album a lot.

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Wrecking Ball is Bruce Springsteen's 17th studio album and, wow, is he angry. This is an album about the current state of the US, the lack of accountability for and following the global financial crisis, a lack of hope, and then, perhaps, hope for the future. The production is big, stadium-like rock but with enough layers to make it interesting. The lyrics are comparatively simple compared to some of Springsteen's earlier storytelling. The musical influences vary from rock, though country, Irish folk, gospel, country and R&B.